Last week I received a delightful email update from cream, a group of writers and curators which focuses on 'art in networks' and publishes a web site. The email, entitled 'cream *14*: the Joy of Closure,' contained writings by French artist and writer Frederic Madre, New York-based writer Blackhawk, Dutch critic Josephine Bosma, and a mysterious 'Ms. O.' I especially liked Madre's headlining contribution, a description of ways in which the web seems closed, and Ms. O.'s cryptic autobiography. Two subjective reasons to check out cream; other perhaps more objective allures include the site's comprehensive archive and thorough updates on people and events. Do you know who Saul Albert is? Get creamed. -- Rachel Greene

Sign up for Rhizome hosting before January 15, 2004, and receive a *FREE* domain name for one year. Provided by the international, well-established, ISP Broadspire, the hosting services are high-quality: for $65 per year Rhizome members can put their sites on a Linux server, with 350MB disk storage space, 1GB data transfer per month, catch-all email forwarding, daily web traffic stats, 1 FTP account, and the capability to host one's own domain name (or use http://rhizome.net/your_account_name). Plus, the hosted can take comfort in knowing they're being active roots in the Rhizome schema, helping the .ORG to be self-sustaining. Details on the site.

A small, independent new media art nonprofit called 'switch media chiang mai' is holding a festival and conference, 'Pathiharn Electron [Supernatural],' this coming April in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Right now the switch staff is preparing for the events and they are accepting submissions of digital art (until the 31st January), and conference papers and organizational partners (until 15, February). Proposals for installations are especially welcome and as such artists should keep in mind the rich social spaces of the city when organizing ideas: night markets, food stalls, karaoke bars, internet cafes and video arcades. If you can't escape the humdrum aesthetics of your own life to attend Pathiharn Electron [Supernatural], how about becoming part of switch's critical mass by joining their mailing list? Details for all programs on the site. -- Rachel Greene

Considering all the rhetoric that has been
produced about information technologies and their
impact on global culture, it's easy to feel
exhausted, or at the very least
tired, by the prospect of more internet discourse. If you're not suffering from this critical fatigue, Deep Sites (Thames &
Hudson, 2003), a new book by design critic Max
Bruinsma, should be added to your reading list. Deep Sites energetically discusses a
plethora of web sites within a framework of five categories of innovation: interface,
typography, animation, community and authoring. Each
category includes a range of types -- from
web art to corporate sites to blogs -- arguing that they
are all taking us somewhere new and potentially
liberating. Bruinsma seems to think that design can
help us swim, rather than flail, as we move into the techno-future. For those wanting a preview, the author's personal web site
provides texts in English and Dutch as well as
links to the sites featured in the book. - Ryan Griffis

Ever wanted to run around a 3D maze made from your fingerprint? Or learn how to build a wi-fi antenna from your favorite can of soup? Enter Play Shop, an 'open-access' laboratory running from this Saturday, January 17 through April 4, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The brainchild of FutureFarmers' Amy Franceschini, Play Shop's founding principle is to subvert the role of technology through artistic interventions and workshops. 'I am hoping Play Shop can be a starter seed space where people can meet informally to exchange, collaborate and explore creative uses of technology,' she explains. Along with plenty of on-site tinkering, Play Shop's events include Fur, the makers of PainStation, and the student-run group Artech with Richard Mortimer Humphrey and Scott Snibbe. If that's not enough, Yerba Beuna's museum is mounting the exhibition 'Bang the Machine: Computer Gaming Art and Artifacts,' with work by artists such as Brody Condon, Paul Johnson, Shelley Eshkar and Paul Kaiser. So stop by with a project, an idea to change the world, or just an open mind. You won't be disappointed. --Jonah Brucker-Cohen

The question 'what makes art 'Art'?' has
been asked by critics, historians, artists,
philosophers, and, well, probably just about everyone
else. So, given the increasing visibility of art made
for the net, it should be no surprise that the same
curious ranks are asking 'what is Net Art?' The first issue
of a Flash-based magazine called 'Gluebalize' posed
this question to a number of international artists, who
in turn responded through artworks and interviews.
Responses vary widely in content and form, from
interactive databases to Flash animations and scans of
drawings. Gluebalize is one part of 'Blogwork,' an ongoing
project initiated by artist and writer Lorenzo
Miglioli for the 2003 Venice Biennale. Miglioli,
offers a short and sweet answer to the Net Art question: 'the
network is the artwork.' Now that whole caper has been resolved, can we
move on to real questions such as 'Is 'Curating' Art?'
-Ryan Griffis

Do you value Net Art News? Do you appreciate the research and thinking that go into its writing? We hope you prize art discourse and that you will make a contribution to Rhizome that reflects your pro-art values. Rhizome needs your support today, since we're hoping to raise $37,000 by February 1, 2004. With less than two weeks to go, we are about halfway there. Give $5 or more and you will be eligible for an individual membership and can subscribe to lists such as Rhizome RAW, RARE, and DIGEST. Members also have the opportunity to submit proposals for Rhizome Net Art Commissions (see the Commissions page for details). And, as an added bonus, those who give more than $15 will receive a 10-20% discount in the New Museum of Contemporary Art's Online Store. Buy books, art editions, gifts, jewelry, and children's merchandise at a discount and help Rhizome at the same time! Check out the Online Store here: http://www.newmuseum.org/comersus/store/comersus_dynamicIndex.asp. Thank you for considering this request. -- Rhizome.org

While some netizens may find repugnant the idea of anything communicated over the web lying archived under glass, Mexican artist Alberto Guedea's curatorial effort, Re:, promises to be an interesting jaunt into cross-platform migration. Guedea has collected specimens of e-mail art from artists all over the world and will show them in the Access Artist Run Center of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, from January 24 to February 14, 2004. While there were no thematic or conceptual parameters placed on the contents of the e-mails, only those who submitted work in the form of text and image (as opposed to Flash or executables) will be represented: the e-mails will be shown offline, as works on paper. --Lewis LaCook

Utopia is back in fashion. To mark their 25th anniversary, Ars Electronica has introduced a rather warm and fuzzy new category to be awarded alongside prizes for Computer Animation, Digital Musics, Interactive Art, and Net Vision. 'Digital Communities' will recognize projects with a socio-political agenda; the most important criteria are accessibility and empowerment. E-government, wireless LAN, urban development, gaming, even blogs - if it gets people involved in a social - even better, a socially conscious - activity, chances are it will qualify. The jury will be accepting submissions from private initiatives and public institutions until March 12th. Between the 'Fly Utopia,' the theme at this year's Transmediale, and Digital Communities, it seems we have come full circle. After taking on sex, shopping, and surveillance, the Net is going back to its roots. Utopia lives on. - Elizabeth Bard